From IT Geek to Triathlete

2,000 meter swim! Oooh yeah!

I did my first 2k swim! Yeah!

It was an easy swim. I didn’t kill myself. I took a bit of a break after the first 1000m. I wasn’t that tired, but felt the need to hydrate (of all things). I had a splitting headache too. It might be that my breaths are too big. I took smaller breaths on the second 1000m and everything was ok. I also swam 1 minute quicker on the final 1000.

The best thing is the way I feel at the moment. I feel like anything is within my grasp. If you just work hard, you’ll be able to reach your dreams… hehe. That enough cheeze for you?! But seriously, I feel something along those lines. NowI only need to figure out what my dreams are…

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 04/16/2008
• Time: 17:00:00
• Total Time: 00:49:53.00
• Calories: 420
• Distance: 2000 m
• Average Pace: 2:29.38/100m

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Swim - 0.7 hours - 04/04/2008

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 04/04/2008
• Time: 07:00:00
• Total Time: 00:39:39.00
• Calories: 349
• Distance: 1500 m
• Average Pace: 2:38.59/100m

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Three steps forward, one step back

After three weeks, I got back in the pool today. Due to the bad weather and the tri season that finished, I hadn’t really bothered much with swimming. Big mistake. I was seriously rusty. My swimming fitness faded just as quickly as it came.

I struggled through the first 600m and decided to take a bit of a break.

Rather than bailing out, I tried a number of new routines. I did a few “fist swimming” laps. I was quite surprised to see how fast I could actually go without using my hands. Proof that my technique isn’t horribly wrong.

I also did a few breast stroke laps. I’ve never done these and weren’t really sure if I were doing them properly, but it seemed to work… who knows? My knee felt a bit sensitive / sore with this new sideways kicking action, so I’m pretty sure some of the supporting muscles are a bit weak. I did around 250m of this. Hopefully this strengthen the muscles a bit.

I always felt that my kicking action was a bit wrong. It felt like my arms were doing 99% of the work and my legs were just kicking to look busy… just in case the boss walked past. Thus, I focussed a bit on my leg work. I turned on my back tried to optimize the kicking action. It went ok, but I think at most it will only contribute 15-20% of my speed.

Finally, I worked on my regular technique and was flying through the water. I tired quickly though and had to slow down every once in a while to catch my breath.

In the end, I was quite pumped and glad that I didn’t bail out. Swimming is truly the best full body exercise. I should make a point to get in the water more often. At least once a week.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/27/2008
• Time: 17:00:00
• Total Time: 00:50:00.00
• Calories: 378
• Distance: 1500 m
• Average Pace: 3:20/100m

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Learned a little swim technique today

As I progress with the swimming I’m constantly learning new things. I try to focus my training on endurance and technique.

Today, I figured two things out:

1. Lift your butt, and
2. Don’t take huge strokes.

As I got tired I noticed that my body started to sink more, with only my head and shoulders sticking out of the water. This obviously causes a lot of drag, since your body is angled in the direction your moving. I lifted my butt on the final lap and it felt much easier to get through the water.

The second technique is to take strokes closer to your body. Hmmm… how can I explain this. Say your friend is on top of a sky scraper, and your waving to him telling him to come down. Something like that. I bend my elbows a bit more and try to increase the area that acts as my paddle.

These techniques might not be the best way of doing things, but it helped me a lot tonight.

I’m struggling with my kicking action, though. I’ve got it pretty consistent now, but it doesn’t feel as if it’s really helping to push me forward.

Suppose the best thing would be to join a swimming group or get a trainer. I’ll try to get my time around 2:00-2:10/100m for 2000m and then I’ll join the local Tri-group.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/06/2008
• Time: 17:45:00
• Total Time: 00:34:31.00
• Calories: 291
• Distance: 1500 m
• Average Pace: 2:17.93/100m

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My second sprint triathlon

I did another triathlon on Sunday. I desperately wanted to beat my previous time of 1:34:47. For some strange reason, I only managed to shave-off around 30 seconds. I’m still waiting for the official times, but according to my watch I finished in 1:34:20. I’m a bit disappointed, but relieved that I wasn’t slower.

Guess it was just one of those days… We all know those days where you’re not quite on your peak.

I think my biggest mistake was not sleeping enough and eating a bit too much before the race. I’ll experiment with these next time and try to determine if this was in fact the problem.

As for the race itself: It was again a perfect day. Couldn’t ask for better weather. I enjoyed the swimming a lot more than the previous time. The water was quite flat and I was able to gun it for most of the swim. I shaved a massive 2 minutes off my previous time.

T1 was a bit of a disaster. I was easily 30seconds slower than the previous time. I approached it all wrong and took ages to get all my cycling gear on.

I also felt a lot better on the bike than I did the previous time. I spared my legs a bit, but still managed to average a bit higher at 28.2kmph… I’m not too sure if my Garmin’s measurements were as accurate as the previous time. It measured the first lap at around 9.9km, which is a bit off.

T2 was much better than the previous time round. Brad’s hints really helped a lot for those wobbly legs.

I struggled through the running section. I think I suffered from dehydration. My legs felt ok, but I ran out of breath quite quickly. I tried to drink more water, but felt like I wouldn’t be able to keep it down. Again, it took me around 2-3km to shake off the wobbliness. By the end I settled into a more respectable pace… even though my heart rate was again way too high.

All in all, I enjoyed this triathlon a lot more than my first… even though it felt much harder.

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Swim - 0.3 hours - 03/02/2008

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/02/2008
• Time: 10:00:00
• Total Time: 00:16:38.00
• Calories: 229
• Distance: 750 m
• Average Pace: 2:12.84/100m

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Not quite swimming with the big kids yet…

So I only slept around 4 hours last night (work, bleh) and by the time the gravel pit whistle blew, I was ready to hit hay. Alas, none of that. I dragged my lazy butt to the pool. Reason got the better of me. I thought an half-an-hour in bed wouldn’t have the same effect as the same time spent in the pool.

Coincidently, I met a friend of a friend there who swam with a tri-swimming group. We got talking and I asked about their practice routine. Today they were doing 24 x 100m laps at 1:50. Uhm… yeah my 1500m at 2:15 is nowhere near what they’re doing. Apparently their distances vary between 2000-5000m!! Yeah, I have a lot of swimming to do before I’ll be able to join those guys.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 02/25/2008
• Time: 16:45:00
• Total Time: 00:33:35.00
• Calories: 287
• Distance: 1500 m
• Average Pace: 2:14.33/100m

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Quick swim

I did a quick swim on Friday. I waited for the thunderstorms to pass, which only happened at around 6pm. I went to the local pool, only to find out that they close at 7pm. I was only able to swim 400m. It was a quick 400m and I managed to keep my breathing steady, breathing on every second stroke. I was going as fast as I could without drowning. Its really the first time I’ve been able to breath ‘normally’ at such a fast pace, so I’m still glad I did the short stint.

I’ve been working (actual work) my butt off again and didn’t manage to train at all this weekend. I hope this isn’t going to become a regular thing, since I love training over the weekend. I usually manage to get a couple of extra hours in.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 02/22/2008
• Time: 18:40:00
• Total Time: 00:08:18.00
• Calories: 121
• Distance: 400 m
• Average Pace: 2:04.57/100m

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Swimming by leaps and bounds

I did a 1,500m swim this morning!! I must say that I’m quite impressed with my progress, considering I’ve only been swimming since the beginning of the year. Also, I only swim around once or twice per week. My pace and obviously technique has also improved quite a bit.

I did three sessions of 500m, with a minute break between each session. No breaks in the session itself this time round.

The next triathlon is on the 2nd of March and I’m toying with the idea of doing the Olympic distance. I’m sure I’ll be able to finish the race, but I’m also sure I’ll finish dead last. I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes these two weeks.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 02/19/2008
• Time: 06:15:00
• Total Time: 00:37:14.00
• Calories: 317
• Distance: 1500 m
• Average Pace: 2:28.76/100m

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Yeah! I swam 1km! Also going rafting tomorrow

Luckily the stormy weather cleared up and I was able to go for a dip. I swam 1km in total! (Pat on the back) Yeah, I know. 1km isn’t that far, but I’m taking baby steps…

I did do two sets of 500m. I also tried to work on my speed, so I increased my pace a bit. Got quite tired and decided to take 15-30 second breaks after each 100m.

Did not have my watch with me so I’m not sure what time I did in the end, but it wasn’t blindingly fast.

I’m leaving for a rafting weekend later today. I can’t wait. Apparently we’re going to do some level 5 rapids! I’ve only gone rafting once before, and at a place with level 4 rapids. It was great, but I can do with some more action. Hopefully it ‘ll be a very bumpy ride tomorrow!!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 02/14/2008
• Time: 17:00:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Calories: 257
• Distance: 1000 m
• Average Pace: 3:00/100m

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